Rainy Wednesdays Make Me Tired

How on earth is it already a third of the way through November?! I'm not ready for Thanksgiving or Christmas or any of this stuff. Things around here continue to be a little hectic, but hopefully it will slow down soon. Brian's hours at work are picking up to a ridiculous degree, so I'll have abundant time at home alone to accomplish stuff. Yay...not really. I'd rather have him home.

There's a lot going on right now, but I haven't really had time to mention it on here. Here's kind of a bullet list....

Happy Birthday to Little Bro. He's technically 26, but he said 25 was so good he plans on repeating it. So he's 25+1 today! I have been incredibly blessed in the brother department, and I couldn't ask for better.

One of my day care children's grandmothers fell Sunday night and sustained a traumatic brain injury. I can't imagine what their family is going through!!

Stellan had major surgery this week and God was there in full force, of course, deserving all the praise. I'm sure there's a lot more to be done yet, but I know Yaya Princess and I were ecstatic over the outcome!

I'm making felt play food for my day care kids. It's so much fun I can't hardly stand it!

I'm geeky excited about a designer handbag bingo this weekend. Nothing like free purses for a good cause.

Someone needs to come clean and organize my house for me ASAP. I'm accepting applications now....

Have I mentioned how much this rainy Wednesday is making me want to veg out?! What motivates you to get off your duff on days like this?

Thank God....It's Friday!!

It's been so long since I blogged about anything that I'm surprised Blogger didn't say "Who?!" when I logged in. I cannot explain to you all how busy it's been around here, but I also know that's no excuse. Heaven knows I've had time to farm on Facebook, embroider a tablecloth, try to learn to knit, dodge housework, and have slumber parties with Mama. Of course, there are also countless crazy children running around my living room most days so that kind of kills any desire to do anything more than nap once they leave. Today is Friday, thank the good Lord above, so we'll jump back on the TG...IF train today, as well as a mini-update.

When last we left our superheroes, they we had survived Mama's double knee replacement surgery (yeah, we only had to sit in the waiting room while she went through the surgery...but we all survived so there!) and she was well on the road to recovery. While Mama's chomping at the bit to be back up and around and feels that her recovery is taking literally forever, in all actuality she's doing better than expected and is healing amazingly quickly. Thank you to everyone who's prayed for her and the rest of us, brought food, checked in, hung out with her, or in general forgiven our forgetfulness because we were exhausted. Things are settling into some kind of normal. I'm back home, Mama's talking about going back to work in the next few weeks, and sometimes she can be found out and about taking in the sights.

Since then, I've been working on planning our Annual Halloween party for next Saturday. Growing up, all the family that lived in the county (you know, where there's plenty of cow tipping but no trick or treating?) came into town and used our house as a home base of sorts. The kids went out and canvased the neighborhood for junk food, and the adults stayed home and enjoyed chili, gossip, and whatever costumes the neighborhood kids had to show off. Our neighborhood growing up (which is a whole three blocks from our neighborhood now) was great for kids, and car- and truck-loads of them would show up for Halloween. As time went on, this tradition continued with slightly-more-grown-up cousins dropping in to show off costumes, as well as all the munchkins Mama had for daycare. Unfortunately, Mama and Daddy's house is a split foyer, so there are lots of stairs involved in answering the door. A few years ago I offered to take that responsibility off her hands and have Halloween here. I love it. I love having our family, old friends, new friends, my daycare kids, and Mama's daycare kids over to the house, and about 500 neighborhood kids (not exaggerating) at the door. So if you're in the area on Halloween and want some chili or cake, drop in! Until then, I'll be cleaning our house and maybe have some curtains hung by then. Ha!

Brian had his second sleep study and now sleeps with his Luke Skywalker mask (seriously click that link -- it's hilarious) at night. It's so quiet in our house. Ah...... Hopefully in a few more weeks he'll feel even better as he catches up on some missed sleep! I've noticed a difference in him lately, and I hope he will be able to soon!

Meanwhile, we're both dodging the flu like crazy people. Folks are sick at Brian's store, kids' parents are sick here at the daycare, and it seems like everyone we know has someone sick with the porcine plague. I woke up feeling all queasy and Brian feels like trash today, too, so hopefully it's just because it's been a long week. Here's hoping!

Now, without further adieu....

Thank God....It's Friday!

Praises

I am incredibly thankful for my husband. Always, but I'm just throwing it out there again this week. He understands me, he gets me, and he loves me anyway. That's just cool.

Thank God Mama is doing so well, and that she has such an awesome "support staff" there with her throughout the day!

Yay for grass-fed, organic, locally grown beef. Our second beef will be arriving tomorrow to stock our freezer, and I'm so excited. We weren't sure we'd be able to afford it this year, but God provides and makes things happen. Yay for yumminess that is so good for you!

Some projects that we've been working on for the past year or so are finally coming to a head. That includes things like curtains, finally decorating our house, screen doors, and many other things that we've been hoping for but putting on the back burner.

MadHat76's husband had a great report at the foot guru this week!

Sealgair is getting all tatted-up this weekend! I know she'll have a ball! Of course, she has only added fuel to the fire of desire for my tattoo number two....

Thank heaven for great friends and simple weekend plans like this.

Requests

Please continue to pray for Mama's knees!

One of my daycare families has a cousin affected by the H1N1 flu. She is 12, and is not doing well. She's had the flu for three weeks, and her lungs are affected. Please be with her in prayer.

MadHat hates her job. She's working for some seriously screwed up people. Please pray she finds a new job, preferably before she needs bail money....

Brian's in the same boat. Pray on that one, too!

Our neighbors are a hot mess of white trash drama. Not to be judgmental, but my doors are perpetually locked now. Please pray that this situation resolves itself quickly and painlessly!

Well, it's time to get ready for a three year old's birthday party!! Have a great Friday, and I promise I'll be better about keeping you updated!

Three Years?!?!

Three very quick years ago today I married the most amazing man. He's the sweetest, most gentle, most even-keeled man I've ever met, and he makes me a whole person. Marrying him was the smartest thing I've ever done, and our wedding day was the best day of my life to date. I love him more every day and I can't wait to see what the next hundred years hold!

Happy Anniversary, Brian!

Success!

Short but sweet: Mama's surgery was a roaring success so far!! We said goodbye to her around 11 AM, and Dr. Pereles said that it would be approximately three and a half to four hours until he came to see us with a report. We hung out and talked, crackberried, and had lunch until 3:25, when Dr. Pereles let us know that Mama had done fine and was in recovery. After some mix-ups getting her correct room set up, we were able to join her there around 4:45. She was understandably groggy, shivering, and cold, but was alert and already installed in her Continuous Passive Movement Machine. She was able to eat a little bit of her dinner and keep it down, and we got her settled in and all her goodies unpacked and put away. She took a little percocet for the pain and we left her drifting back off around 7 PM. Little Bro will be with her tomorrow, Daddy will go by after work, and Brian and I will be joining her around 6:30 when I get off. I am amazed at her courage and strength so far, and can't wait until she is back up and around, enjoying her new legs!!

Thank you to everyone who joined us in prayer today, sent positive thoughts, called, or was with us in spirit. I know it means a lot to Mama, and it certainly does to me. Goodnight!

New Legs

Tomorrow is an important day in our family. Tomorrow, Mama gets her "new legs". Not entirely, of course. Tomorrow around 11:30 AM or so, Mama will undergo double knee replacement. She suffers from severe osteoarthritis, and has needed this surgery for about five years now. Tomorrow is the day!

We're not sure how long she'll be in-patient, and how long she'll need care once she arrives home, so things will be a little nutty around here for awhile. Hopefully I'll have more time to blog while I'm hanging out at her house, but I don't promise anything. I needed a little break for the past two weeks or so just to get some things taken care of, so I should be back in the blog-saddle soon.

Meanwhile, please keep my mama in your prayers. She's in for a long haul, but we're all so excited for her to have new legs!!

Update

As I made my way through my blog roll today, I was blindsided by some horrible news. However, it was not unexpected. I think every day that I checked out Maxey Web, I was secretly a little glad to find it not updated, and so very happy when I saw it updated with information about Annette. Today, though, was different. Yesterday was the last day here for this sweet little girl who endured so much. This family lost their first daughter as well, and I can't imagine how they'll cope or what they'll say to their son in the days to come. Please pray for them, go to their site and comment to let them know that you're thinking of them, and then go hug your babies and loved ones really tight.

Monday, Monday....again

Ugh. Yet another Monday? Where do these things come from? We had a great weekend, and I hoped to go into the week well-rested and at great peace with the world. Unfortunately, when I was still laying awake (lying? laid? Whatever - prostrate in bed, ya'll) last night at 2 AM....well, all that flew out the window. I couldn't shut my brain off and I couldn't stop Brian's freight train-esque snoring (more on that in a minute). And a couple random men were talking outside (it's two AM!!). So today I feel like I've been hit by a truck.

Saturday was lovely, as I spent the day with Mama at a bluegrass festival nearby. We saw several great bands, ate yummy food, talked a lot, and generally hung out. The weather was gorgeous and we were home in time to get ready for the next day's reunion.

Sunday was the Hill Reunion. My cousin and I organize the whole thing, and it's a ball. The weather was just as lovely, the food twice as good, and the people entertaining as always. I'll be posting some pictures here and on our reunion website hopefully later tonight or tomorrow, so be sure to check them out.

Other than all that, I don't have a lot to write about. We're just working, trying to get a few big projects around here taken care of (like rebuilding a bookshelf, done last weekend!), and thinking about Fall and Winter. We're shooting for a mostly-handmade Christmas again this year, and I can't very well blog about that, can I? Over half our family and friends read this! Just suffice it to say that I'm teaching myself to knit and embroider, and leave it at that. Mama is preparing for her double knee replacement, so I'm trying to figure out the best way to help her for a few weeks/months as well. Brian was diagnosed with mild to moderate sleep apnea last week (yay for concrete diagnosis of something!!). He'll go back in next week to be fitted for a CPAP machine and will hopefully be better rested very soon.

So, bear with us. I'll blog when I have something to write about. Look for pictures coming soon. And pardon me while I go take a nap.....